Joseph Chilton Pearce is an author of a number of books on child development. He prefers the name "Joe". He has a master's degree. He presents the idea of the heart - or compassionate mind - as another categorization of brain function with equal stature as the thalamus, prefrontal cortex, and lower brain. He believes that active, imaginative play is the most important of all childhood activities because that cultivates a mastery of one's environment. He coins the term "creative competence" to discuss that mastery. Further, children without that form of play develop feeling of isolation and anxiety. He also believes that child parent bonding is important, and blames a lack of breast feeding and modern childbirth as both obstructive to that bonding